Walk Away Now
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1109a: What if Artie had managed to keep it together when he faced off with Grant instead of getting in a fight with him? - Anniversary cycle day 17 of 21, shift A


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 52nd cycle. Now cycle 53!_

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_**THIRD ANNIVERSARY CYCLE: **It's late October again, and within this cycle I will be completing my third year of daily gleekathon stories and commencing a fourth! As in previous years, this means special things happening. I've selected my favorite stories from throughout the year, and I'll be treating them to something special. In previous years this included Prequel, Sequel, and POV Swap, and then Additional Scenes and Alternate Endings. This year I'm adding two new treatments: Genre Swap (I think that's pretty straightforward) and Element Change (I change one thing in the story, see how it affects the rest). Note that in both these cases and some of the others, there may excerpts directly transferred from the story it references. Also, since this year saw the addition of 'shift days', and since I suck at picking, I have selected 42 stories, to be treated two per day! So here we go!_

_**This story** is an Alternate Ending to The Cautionary Tale of Lucy Collins, an Artie/Lucy series story, originally posted from March 29 to April 4 2012._

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_**This is a double shift day.** There will be one more upload today: Making Memories._

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**"Walk Away Now"  
Artie/Lucy (OC)  
Artie/Lucy series extra  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

Artie had been feeling rage and frustration, having to deal with Lucy's ex-boyfriend, Grant, but then how could he not, when the guy was standing there, making claims about her, telling him about their past together and showing without remorse just how much of a jerk he had been to her. But for all that, it wasn't until his last insinuations, which seemed to indicate he would spread rumors about her, that Artie had truly been on alert. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything… not yet, anyway. But, hey, I bet they'd all love to hear about this secret encounter of ours… with some edits," he added.

"You've got no proof," Artie shook his head, hoping that was the case.

"Maybe not," Grant admitted. "But she did have her shirt off, and I saw she's got this… scar, right here," he traced a line at his back, just under his left armpit. "Crooked little thing, I'm sure one girl or another is bound to have seen it in the locker room. And she'll tell another, who'll tell two more, and then no one will need 'proof.'"

"Can't blame a girl for not wanting people to think she slept with you, and it didn't even happen." If he wasn't holding on to something, he wasn't sure what he would do.

"They won't care. I mean, would you? And you still don't get it. If she kept that one a secret, then how many more could she be hiding?" Grant delivered his final hit, standing back up and taking a step back, with that smirk of his as he started to turn away. Artie wanted nothing more than to hit him, could feel the rage boiling up inside him. But then he had a better idea.

"I don't think you want to do that," Artie called after Grant, with a calm voice that managed to keep the guy from walking away. Artie was aware of what could happen if he made the guy come back, but he had to risk it. When Grant started back toward him, he sat up in his chair.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know the thing about rumors is how you handle them. You go out of your way to have people believe one thing… maybe they'll start believing there's something else going on." Grant looked halfway between confused and unnerved. "You try and talk about Lucy, telling lies about her… maybe I tell lies about you, and then we'll see who comes out on top." He didn't look frightened or emotional, so out of the two of them, in that instant, he did look more credible, and he knew Artie could see it.

"You wouldn't. You're just some geek, just doing what you're told," Grant chuckled, but Artie was seeing right through him, and he smiled.

"So who wouldn't believe me instead of you? Especially someone like a teacher… or a principal." Grant was trying for a comeback, but he wasn't finding one, and Artie wheeled back up to him. "Save us both the trouble, and leave Lucy alone." Grant glared at him, but he started walking off.

"This isn't over," he warned.

"For your sake, it better be," Artie warned right back, and the boy walked away. When he was gone, Artie let out a breath, shoulders slouching forward as he tried to recover… It had taken everything in him not to just to talk with his fists, but it was done now, and a few seconds later, he felt hands slide on to his shoulders. He startled, thinking for a second it might be Grant, but then the hands were much too soft and… caring. He looked up to find it was Lucy standing behind his chair. "How long have you been back there?" he asked, and she replied by leaning in to kiss his forehead, unable to reach his lips at the moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to have to talk to him, but he…"

"Hey, what are you apologizing for? Grant doesn't know when to leave well enough alone, so you've seen. Hopefully now he's learned his lesson."

"What if he does talk?" Artie asked as they headed down the halls together. "About you… I know what I said I'd do if he did, but even then, it might not be as easy to contain and…"

"I've got nothing to hide. If they want to talk, then I can't stop them. Besides, I've got you, and you know the truth," she pointed out, and he smiled.

"I do."

"That's all that matters to me, the rest I'll just deal with when I have to… He still pisses me off though," she sighed.

"Yeah, he has a way of doing that," Artie agreed, and she laughed. "He said you had a scar, on your back, near…" he tried to point, and she nodded.

"Fell off my bike when I was nine, there was glass on the ground…" she revealed, and he cringed. "Figures he had to see that. He wouldn't have anything to go on otherwise…"

"Doesn't have to mean anything, didn't you guys ever go swimming together, maybe it was just you in a bathing suit. It's not like he described something more… intimate," he had to blink to chase away the image in his mind, and she smacked at the back of his head.

"Hey, focus," she sounded slightly flustered.

"Sorry, sorry," he cringed, but then they laughed. "Point is, we've got something to shut him up with in case he talks, and I'm still saying he won't," he decided.

"Good," she did as well. After a few moments, he felt he had to confess…

"I almost hit him."

"I know. I could see it," she told him. "The important thing is you didn't," she assured him.

"He made me so angry…" he frowned.

"He does that to people. Sometimes I can't believe I ever saw anything in him… But that's what he does, he charms you, and until you see what he really is, then it's all you see… Sometimes it's hard to trust people are who they say they are, because if he wasn't, then…" she was trailing off in her thoughts, and he reached to take her hand. She looked back down to him, and she shook the thoughts away, smiling. "Point is… I trust you, Artie."

"I won't let you down, I swear."

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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